


Native Tongue

by badskippy



Series: Bagginshield One-Offs [18]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Loving Thorin, M/M, khuz-dul is hard, learning a new lanuage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-25 06:39:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12030282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badskippy/pseuds/badskippy
Summary: Thorin is desperate to teach Bilbo how to speak Khuz-dul.  And he'll go to any length to teach him.





	Native Tongue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aquileaofthelonelymountain](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aquileaofthelonelymountain/gifts).



* * *

 

 

            Bilbo tried again but it seemed no use. He just wasn’t designed for this! He couldn’t wrap his _mind_ around it, let alone his lips! It was too enormous, too big for him to take in! He wanted to please Thorin, he did, but this was too much.

            Thorin would just have to understand.

            “I can’t!”

            Thorin smiled slyly. “You are doing very well. Don’t give up.”

            Bilbo rolled his eyes. “That’s easy for you to say.”

            “I’ve had far more years and, therefore, more practice.”

            “Must I really do this?”

            “Please.”

            Bilbo sighed and looked to the ceiling. _Yvanna, give me strength._ With a breath in, he pressed his lips together and ... “Bla ... blah ... Blak ...”

            “No,” Thorin said, shaking his head. “Bah ... lah ... Do you hear the difference?”         

            Bilbo cocked his eyebrow. “Oh, sure!” He didn’t even try to hide his sarcasm. “I hear one speaking clearly ... almost eloquently ...”

            “Thank you.”

            “... and one ... MAKING A COMPLETE ARSE OF HIMSELF!”

            Thorin chuckled. “You are doing well.”

            “Says you.”

            “Oh, Bilbo-”

            “Khuz-dul is so hard!”

            Thorin nodded. “I can’t argue with that.”

            “You'd think I could learn basic _food items_ but ... oh, no ... I can’t even get _‘scrambled eggs’_ right!”

            “Well ...” Thorin looked a little sheepish.

            “What?” Had Bilbo missed something?

            “Well, there isn’t actually a word for ... ‘scrambled.’”

            “Then what have you been ...”

            “Balâtkhagsnuhbu just means ... ‘yoke.’”

            “That’s ‘yoke?!’”

            Thorin nodded again. “The word for egg is ‘kharh.’”

            Bilbo looked stunned. “The whole egg is ... kah ... kar ...”

            “Kharh.”

            “Yeah ... that! But the just the yoke part is ...”

            “Balâtkhagsnuhbu.”

            “But that doesn’t even ... match!”

            “Well, they both have ... K ... H ... A ... in them?”

            Bilbo looked at Thorin liked he’d grown two heads.

            Thorin just shrugged.

            “WHO THE HELL MADE UP THIS LANGUAGE?!”

            Thorin huffed out a sigh. “It wasn’t ‘made up’ ... it was a gift from our maker.”

            Bilbo released a rather hollow laugh. “Gift? I think you should ask for your money back.”

            Thorin was not amused. “When Mahal created the Seven Fathers, he forged our language at the same time ... imprinting it within their very souls ... this was his gift to us to set us apart, to prove we were special to him ... that we were loved. And when the Seven Fathers finally awoke onto the world and populated our race, they taught their children the language of Mahal ... and those children taught their children, and so on and so on down through the generations ... so that all would know and understand how loved and special we were to our Lord.”

            Bilbo was still, taking it all in. He could understand why it was important to Thorin that he learn to speak the sacred language of Thorin’s people. Thorin who had to ask the council for special permission to teach him ... almost begging the elders to let him do so. Bilbo got it.

            But he just couldn’t get it. “Your ... _native tongue_ is so hard for me!”

            Thorin was silent for a few long seconds before say, softly, “Yet ... you speak Elvish so well.”

            “Elvish is easy! It’s all lips and the tip of the tongue. It flows! Khuz-dul is so ... guttural ... it’s throaty and I feel like I’m going to ... to ... _choke_ on my own spit!”

            Thorin nodded and looked away for a moment. “You don’t have to learn.” His voice was so quiet. “I will not force you ... and in the end, it matters not.”

            Thorin sounded calm and he was not upset, but the disappointment and hurt were clear in his tone. At least, it was to Bilbo; he felt horribly guilty.

            “I’m sorry.”

            Thorin shook his head. “You have no reason to be.”

            “Don’t I? I think I just insulted you.”

            “No. You did no such thing.”

            “I think I did. I joked about your language choking me.”

            Thorin smiled.

            “If I keep trying, will you teach me some easier words?”

            Thorin chuckled again and Bilbo felt a little better. Thorin reached out and ran a calloused thumb gently over the apple of Bilbo’s cheek, Thorin’s eyes roving over Bilbo’s face as if he stared at a precious gem.

            “ _Barath,_ ” Thorin whispered, drawing the word out a little, making it sound delicate and sensual.

            Bilbo hitched a breath. “That’s ... that’s beautiful!”         

            Thorin’s eyes sparkled. “It means ‘pink rose’ ... that’s what your cheeks remind me of. So soft. So tender. So lovely.”

            Bilbo couldn’t help but smile. Thorin had just compared him to a flower; a beautiful flower. Good gracious, what Hobbit could resist that!

            “ _Kurdel_.” Again, Thorin drew out the word, softly rounding the edges until it was almost like a kiss.

            “And what ... what does that mean?”

            “Heart of hearts.” Thorin leaned forward and pressed a whisper soft kiss to Bilbo’s cheek. “The one my heart beats in time with.”

            Bilbo closed his eye and tried to remain calm.

            “ _Maimril_.” Thorin murmured as he kissed Bilbo’s ear.

            Bilbo shivered when Thorin’s beard lightly brushed against the point of his ear. “ _Maimril_ ,” Bilbo repeated, having no trouble with the word at all.

            “It means ‘beloved.’” Thorin sighed against Bilbo’s neck.

            “Oh ... oh, god.” Bilbo trembled as Thorin pulled him closer.

            Thorin ran the tip of his nose up the side of Bilbo’s neck and nuzzled gently against Bilbo’s ear. Bilbo quivered as Thorin’s lips moved over his jaw and lips.

            “Do you find these ... words ...” Thorin murmured against Bilbo’s lips, “... easier?”

            Bilbo smiled; Thorin was a beast for what he was doing. Not that Bilbo minded one, single bit. “Oh yes ... _maimril_.”

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I got all these Khuz-dul words from the Neo Khuz-dul Dictionary ... you can find it online by The Dwarrow Scholar.


End file.
